Electrical water heater



March 1 i:. E. KITTREDGE ET A1.

ELECTRICAL WATER HEATER Fina March 19, 2 92B ATTORNEYS.

Patented M... 18, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNEST E. KIT'IBEDGE, OF A LAMEDA, JOSEPH A. FORSTEB, OF OAKLAND, AND RASMUS D. J'OHANSEN, OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA.

ELECTRICAL WATER HEATER Application filed March 19, 1928. Serial No. 262,722.

The invention relates to devices for heating water. by electrical heating means, which make use of the eddy currents or hysteresis set up in a substantially solid bar of magnetic material.

A further object is to provide means whereb the heat generated in the bar may bemost e$ciently transmitted to the medium to be heated. 1 Another object of the invention is to prov duce a heater which is'easily installed, re-

- quires no attention after installation, is prac tically indestructible, and cannot be accidentally prevented from functioning. The 5 forms of the invention shown inthe accompanying drawing are preferred, although it will be understood that various modifications within the scope of the appended claims may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention set forth therein. These objects are attained by the arrangements shown in I the accompanyin drawing and described in j detailinthe speci cation.

" Referring more particularly to the draw- 25. in s, in which i ig; 1 shows a vertical plan view' artly in section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 o the applicationv of the invention to the usual form of household hot' water container; Fig. 2 shows a top plan View of the arrange ment shown in Fig. 1 partly in section on the 7 line 22 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 shows the modification of the application of the invention.

Similarreference numerals indicate similar parts throughout the several views, and in the drawings, reference numerals 1 indicate a substantially solid U-shaped barforming portions of the closed magnetic circuit of a transformer-like structure. Numeral 2 indicates a plurality of passageways formed in the bar, through which passa eways the fluid to be heated may circulate an absorb the heat transferred from the bar 1 in a quick and wall of the fluid container 10 to which the invention is applied. The bar 1 is provided with extensions 4 projecting through the wall of the container for the purpose of providin means of attachment for a U-shap'ed'bar 5 o thorough manner. Numeral 3' indicates the laminated structure of magnetic material which completes the closed magnetic circuit of the transformer-like heater. Bars 1 and 5 are welded at their junction point to insure perfect contact and to obviate current loss by resistance at the joint. A coil of electrical conducting wire 6 is wound about the laminated bar 5 and suitable connections are made to the usual alternating current lighting circuit.

The bar 1 is of substantially solid construction to provide a maximum hysteresis loss and to set up eddy currents at all possible points, which loss and currents are transformed into heat. The passageways 2 provide for exposure of a larger surface and permit circulation of the fluid to be heated, thereby securing the most efficient transfer of heat.

Laminated construction of the bar 5, according to the usual practice in transformers, eliminates loss of current by resistance to the induced current in the bar, which resistance would be a loss, since only a small portion of the heat developed thereby would beconducted to the bar 1 and transmitted to the fluid.

A thermostat 7 of any known construction is placed in the circuit, the thermo-sensitive element projecting into the fluid container, as clearly'indicated in Fig. 1. A casing 8v covers and encloses all of the heater structure not enclosed within the fluid container 10. In the construction shown in Fig. 1, an additional space 9 is provided betweenthe body of the bar l-and'the wall 3 of the fluid container for the purpose of permitting better circulation of the medium to be heated. The space 9 between the bar 1 and walls 3 of the fluid container is eliminated in Fig. 3 to permit making the bar Iintegral with the container 10.

The usual cold water pipe 11 leading to the I bottom of the container 10 and a hot water pipe 12 leading off from the top of the container 10 are shown.

From the construction described, it will be apparent that we have provided a simple, efficient type of fluid heater whereby the heating effects of the eddy currents or hysteresis produced in the transformer-likestructure may-be most efiiciently used for heating a fluid circulating medium.

Having described our invention, what. we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A water heater comprising a transformer of laminated construction, a heating element being substantiallysolid and having a plural ty of longitudinal bores extending therethrough and opening at both ends of said element, arms carried by the transformer and complementary arms carried by the heating element for spacing said element from said transformer, said arms being adapted to extend throu h the side wall of a boiler for securing the eating element within the boiler.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures,

ERNEST EKITTREDGE.

JOSEPH A. FORSTER. RAS i 3 I S 1). JOE-IANSENQ 

